NRCM works to protect Maine’s natural areas and wild, undeveloped character, particularly in the North Woods. We support responsible land development and sustainable forest practices that protect sensitive ecosystems and wildlife. We work for increased public ownership of Maine lands, so future generations will know the Maine we love today.
Protection of Maine’s natural, remote areas was one of the issues for which NRCM was founded in 1959. More than 60 years later, much progress has been made but major threats to Maine’s land and water resources continue.
With our coalition partners, NRCM has won many significant victories over the years, from helping establish the Allagash Wilderness Waterway to passage of legislation limiting irresponsible clear cuts. But the challenges of protecting Maine’s treasured wildlands and the wildlife that depend upon them have never been greater, nor the need more urgent.
We worked to establish a National Monument just east of Baxter State Park and continue our work to push for Land for Maine’s Future funding to acquire public lands, watchdog Maine’s public lands and the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, stop the ill-conceived East-West Highway from being built, weigh-in when harmful development is proposed in Maine’s North Woods, and ensure that any timber harvesting laws and policies are as protective as possible.
More than one-third of the state has changed ownership in the past 20 years. Corporations that have no stake in our local communities are buying up hundreds of thousands of acres. Slicing and dicing these natural areas can destroy the character of Maine’s North Woods forever.
This loss would affect not only the people of Maine but also our wildlife. The region is home to moose, bear, deer, and dozens of bird species—Boreal Chickadee, Spruce Grouse, Pine Grosbeak, Cape May Warbler, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher—for which the North Woods are the southernmost limit of their breeding range. Maine’s North Woods also provide many recreational opportunities for Maine people. Unchecked development threatens access to undeveloped, wild forests, lakes, and rivers for hiking, canoeing, camping, hunting and fishing.
While development pressures and the loss of public access continue to intensify, NRCM remains a voice for balancing economic development in Maine’s North Woods with conservation.
We invite you to learn more about our work to protect Maine’s North Woods and other natural areas, and to support our vital work for generations to come.
Rule Paves the Way for Wrong Kind of Growth in Rural Maine
The latest proposal for development in the unorganized territory would hurt the communities it intends to help. Portland Press Herald editorial More than seven months ago, we wondered why state planning officials were proposing a substantial change in how development is guided in the unorganized territory – the 10 million or so acres of land, Read More
With Proposed Development Rule Change, Maine’s North Woods Hangs in the Balance
By Cathy Johnson, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed With few places in the world still relatively untouched by development, Maine’s 10.5 million acres of North Woods are a disappearing resource. These woods rejuvenate us: They provide opportunities for hunting, fishing and recreation, and serve as vital habitat for plants and animals. That Read More
Why These Conservationists are Feeling Optimistic about Atlantic Salmon
By John Holyoke, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story Two pieces of fisheries-related news were welcomed with enthusiastic responses by Atlantic salmon conservationists in Maine last week. Dwayne Shaw, the executive director of the Downeast Salmon Federation, and Andrew Goode, the vice president of U.S. programs for the Atlantic Salmon Federation in Brunswick, said Read More
Sprawling Development Would Hurt Towns, Wildlife & Wilderness
Bangor Daily News editorial We give the Land Use Planning Commission, which oversees zoning and development in the state’s more than 10 million acres of unorganized territories, credit for listening to public criticism of a plan to allow more scattered development in these areas. After public hearings and comments that were overwhelmingly negative, the commission Read More
Diverse Group Unites for Conservation of Maine Land
A much-needed, insult-free process has produced a roadmap for the future. Portland Press Herald editorial They must feel like they just came up out of the treeline and had the sun hit their faces for the first time in a while. A task force on land conservation is calling for a return to the robust Read More
Land Use Planning Commission Holds Public Hearing
Written by Rachel Mann Fox News Bangor news story BREWER- Extra chairs had to be brought in for a public hearing on a proposal that would allow development on more than a million acres of land. “The package that we’re working on is intended to do three key things,” Nick Livesay, director of the Land Use Read More
State Panel Told to Protect Maine Woods from Development Sprawl
By Bill Trotter, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story A proposal to change how development is allowed in Maine’s Unorganized Territory still is being met with some vocal opposition, despite some minor changes that a state planning body has made to the draft policy. Many of the roughly three dozen people who spoke Thursday Read More
Testimony on LUPC’s Proposed Rule Revisions: Revised Application of the Adjacency Principle & Subdivision Standards
Public Hearing on LUPC’s Proposed Rule Revisions: Revised Application of the Adjacency Principle & Subdivision Standards Testimony of Catherine B. Johnson My name is Cathy Johnson and I am the Forests and Wildlife Project Director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM). NRCM has over 20,000 members and supporters including people who reside in Read More
LUPC Proposal Would Forever Scar Maine’s North Woods
NRCM calls on planning agency to drop proposed changes that would harm wildlife, recreation, and local economic development NRCM news release Augusta – People from across Maine, and the state’s leading environmental advocacy group are calling on the Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC) to drop a proposal that would allow widespread development on more than Read More
Banner photo: Moose near Baxter State Park, by Gerard Monteux
